Last month I had an amazing opportunity to meet Ron Monteiro, CPA, CMA, Ron is a senior finance and business leader with more than 18 years of experience in various Accounting, FP&A, and senior business finance roles. He is extremely passionate about team building, coaching, and training. He is the founder of KICT Inc. and a speaker, facilitator, and coach for Clear Concepts Inc.
In this episode, we delve into the topic of Presentations using the “A.C.E” Framework.
It is important to create habits when it comes to developing communication skills. Habits are built over time, and it’s important to step out of one’s comfort zone to improve. To guide the process, using a framework, such as the ACE framework, is very useful.
AUDIENCE
When speaking in a professional situation, Ron emphasized the value of knowing one’s audience. He used the example of a Vice President who preferred one-page reports to reports that were twenty pages long. We as finance professionals should be mindful of how our stakeholders like to consume information. And then we can adjust our communication style accordingly.
CONTENT
He mentioned the importance of being concise with content, such as trimming down a 45-page deck to 15 pages. And using visualization to help convey information more effectively.
EXECUTION
Ron stressed the importance of execution, including body language, tone of voice, and other nonverbal cues to be more effective communicators.
He also stressed the importance of practice, and mentioned the use of tools like Teams’ voice coach feature, which provides feedback on word usage.
Additionally, he suggests finding an accountability partner or coach who can provide feedback on things like body language and tone of voice. He gives an example of early in his career. He had a development plan that required him to give 4 presentations to marketing by the end of the year. And he shared it with his manager as an accountability partner.
Some additional tips:
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Have an accountability partner to help ensure that practice and preparation are taking place.
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Joining a group like Toastmasters. He mentions one of his direct reports who got physically sick before presentations. After joining Toastmasters, she came to see it as the best thing she had ever done.
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Record yourself in a Zoom meeting. And get a sense of how one comes across to others. He mentions the importance of making eye contact on video calls.
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Learning from the best speakers and presenters, Example: Barack Obama and his technique of pausing to give the audience time to reflect.hereYouTube Channel here.
You can watch the entire conversation here on YouTube and subscribe to my YouTube Channel here.